Legacy of the Incas
Luxury Nazca Lines Tours & Travel
Machu Picchu - Lake
Titicaca
(11
days/10 nights)
Sacred Sites of the Incas
Luxury Nazca Lines Tours & Travel
Machu Picchu - Lake
Titicaca
(12 days/11 nights)
Empire of the Sun
Luxury Nazca Lines Tours & Travel
Machu Picchu - Lake
Titicaca
(14 days/13 nights)
Ancient Civilizations of Peru
Luxury Nazca Lines Tours & Travel
Colca Canyon - Machu
Picchu
Lake Titicaca
(16 days/15 nights)
Archaeological & Ecological
Treasures
Luxury Nazca Lines Tours & Travel
Galapagos - Machu Picchu
Lake Titicaca (or Amazon)
(18 days/17
nights)
Grand Tour of the Inca Empire
Luxury Nazca Lines Tours & Travel
Colca Canyon - Amazon
Machu Picchu - Lake Titicaca
(22 days/21 nights)
Ancient & Colonial Capitals
Luxury Nazca Lines Tours & Travel
Machu Picchu
(10
days/9 nights)
Inca Trail to Machu Picchu
Luxury Nazca Lines Tours & Travel
Machu Picchu
(13 days/12 nights)
Machu Picchu & Galapagos
Luxury Nazca Lines Tours & Travel
Machu Picchu - Galapagos
(15 days/14 nights)
Galapagos & Machu Picchu
Luxury Nazca Lines Tours & Travel
Galapagos - Machu Picchu
(18 days/17 nights)
Amazon
Bio-Trip
Luxury Nazca Lines Tours & Travel
Manu National Park
(8 days/7 nights)
Enchanted
Isles of the Galapagos
Luxury Nazca Lines Tours & Travel
Galapagos
(11
days/10 nights)
Galapagos & the Kingdom of Quito
Luxury Nazca Lines Tours & Travel
Galapagos - Andes
(16 days/15 nights)
Galapagos
& the Amazon
Luxury Nazca Lines Tours & Travel
Galapagos - Amazon
(16 days/15 nights)
Historic Haciendas of the Andes
Luxury Nazca Lines Tours & Travel
Cotopaxi - Antisana
- Otavalo
(7 days/6 nights)
© 2011 Inka's Empire Corporation.
All rights reserved.
Luxury Nazca Lines Tours & Travel
Sand dunes, Huacachina
Lagoon.
Photo:
Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
The entire Paracas/Nazca portion of the trip was fantastic...
-- Dr. Gregory Denison and Dr. Patricia Garner
Land Price (2 days/1 night)
Frugal Luxury US$ 1,755 De Luxe US$ 1,785 Imperial US$ 1,840 per person
The land price includes escorted transfers, private excursions with professional guides and chauffeurs (except the Ballestas Islands cruise and Nazca Lines overflight, which are semi-private), entrance fees, gourmet cuisine (see details), all transportation, and travel insurance for guests through the age of 59 years (over that age, there is a supplementary fee). All prices are per person based on two people sharing a guest room. For a detailed description of our services, see Opulent Itineraries.
Intra-Tour Flights & Fares
Includes Nazca Lines overflight.
Geoglyph of a monkey, Nazca.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
One of the most baffling enigmas in all of archaeology...
On the southern coast of Peru, Nazca artists etched works of monumental proportion. Using as their canvas a plateau 37 miles long and 15 miles wide, they created a montage of geometric designs and whimsical portrayals of plants and animals, such as the hummingbird, fish, dog, lizard, puma, spider, condor and monkey. This excursion features an overflight of the Nazca Lines, complemented by a visit to the regional museum's collection of vivid polychrome ceramics and world-reknowned Paracas textiles. A boat trip to see the amazing profusion of sea life on nearby islands will reveal some of the animals that inspired the artistic motifs.
Detail of a Paracas Necropolis "manto", c. 500 BC.
Museo Nacional de Arqueologia, Antropologia e Historia del Peru.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
Highlights
Paracas
Day 1: Lima - Paracas (Nazca Lines, Tambo Colorado & Ica). Early morning drive to Pisco for a 1-hour, 40-minute overflight of the Nazca Lines -- one of the most baffling enigmas in all of archaeology. After the flight, transfer to the Hotel Paracas, on the Pacific Ocean for a typical lunch. This afternoon, drive inland to the Inca fortress of Tambo Colorado. One of the best-preserved archaeological sites in Peru, its singular construction in adobe shows how the Quechua architects and engineers adapted to the new, coastal environment that the Incas had begun to conquer. Afterward, view the collection of Nazca and Paracas artifacts at the Ica Regional Museum. Dinner and overnight in the Hotel Paracas.
Lima
Day 2: Paracas (Ballestas Islands) - Lima. Walk to the hotel's dock and embark on a cruise to the Ballestas Islands -- home to colonies of sea lions and thousands of sea birds. A marine ornithologist will be your private guide. After returning to shore, lunch at the Hotel Paracas and time to enjoy the beach or the resort's activities before driving back to Lima.
Detail of a Paracas Necropolis "manto", c. 500 BC.
Museo Nacional de Arqueologia, Antropologia e Historia del Peru.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
Located in the Ica Department of Peru on the southern coast, Nazca is one of the most famous pre-historic cultures of the world on account of the beauty of its polychrome ceramics. The Nazca also left behind original textiles, the techniques and coloring of which have astounded the modern world.
The Paracas Necropolis constitutes the early phase of the Nazca culture, and it is distinguished by the world-famous "mantos" (large, decorated cloth) embroidered with polychrome, mythical figures. Paracas Necropolis is a cemetery located on the slopes of Cerro Colorado, in Ica Department, from which 429 funerary bundles were extracted. Each bundle is a mummy wrapped in abundant fine and rough textile.
-- Justo Caceres Macedo, The Prehispanic Cultures of Peru
Details
Geoglyph of a hummingbird, Nazca.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
Day 1: Lima - Paracas (Nazca Lines, Tambo Colorado & Ica)
Early morning drive to Pisco. In pre-Columbian times, this region was home to the Nazca culture, highly advanced in ceramics and textiles. It excelled not only in art but in technology, as evidenced by a complex system of subterranean aqueducts that still brings water and life to one of the driest deserts on earth.
Upon arrival at the Pisco airport, board a 12-passenger, Cessna Grand Caravan for a 1-hour, 40-minute overflight of the Nazca Lines -- one of the most baffling enigmas in all of archaeology. You will also observe the recently-identified Palpa Lines. Using as their canvas Pampa Coloradan (Red Plains), a plateau 37 miles long and 15 miles wide, Nazca artists etched works of monumental proportion: a montage of geometric designs, or "geoglyphs", and whimsical portrayals of plants and animals such as the hummingbird, fish, dog, lizard, puma, spider, condor and monkey. Figures of birds -- there are 18 different kinds -- create a veritable aviary in this menagerie that prowls the pampa.
Geoglyph of a hummingbird, Nazca.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
So similar are the animal drawings to the stylized pottery figures found at nearby burial sites, it is clear the two were linked in time to the major period of Nazca civilization from 200 B.C. to 600 A.D., although some of the more primitive figures on mountain slopes are attributed to the earlier Paracas culture, dating as far back as 900 B.C.
The lines spread over hundreds of square miles and were created by removing the rust-colored stones that cover the desert, revealing the light-colored soil beneath. In this dry, rainless environment, erosion has been practically nil, allowing the markings to endure virtually intact for 1,500 to 2,000 years. After the flight, transfer to the Hotel Paracas, on the Pacific Ocean for a typical lunch.
Inca ruins of Tambo Colorado.
Photo: Daniel Ritiere.
This afternoon, drive inland to the Inca fortress of Tambo Colorado. Tambo Colorado was constructed during the war that the Incas waged against the nations of the coast, in the mid-15th century, probably during the reign of Pachacutec.
One of the best-preserved archaeological sites in Peru, it even retains some of the original white, red and yellow color of its walls. Typically Incan in layout and architectural design, its singular construction in adobe shows how the Quechua architects and engineers adapted to the new, coastal environment that the Incas had begun to conquer. Afterward, view the collection of Nazca and Paracas artifacts at the Ica Regional Museum. Dinner and overnight in the Hotel Paracas.
Sea lions, Paracas Peninsula.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel. Luxury Nazca Lines Tours & Travel.
An unspoiled, natural paradise where the desert sands reveal
treasures of ancient civilizations ...
The Paracas Peninsula is the most important coastal formation in Peru -- an unspoiled, natural paradise where the desert sands reveal treasures of ancient civilizations, and the abundance of marine fauna -- birds, fish and sea mammals -- attracts visitors and ecologists, who are amazed by the profusion of sea life along the ocean shore. The Paracas National Reserve encompasses the amazing beauty of the peninsula and the surrounding ocean, including the Ballestas Islands.
Added to its natural beauty, the Paracas National Reserve is the site of the Paracas Necropolis, an important archaeological site of one of the most advanced cultures that flourished in Peru, around 1,000 B.C. Here, archaeologists discovered hundreds of mummy bundles, a few of which are on display in the on-site Julio C. Tello Museum of Paracas civilization. The mummies are covered with the exquisite textiles in the stylized design and combinations of many colors for which this culture is reknowned.
Humboldt penguin, Ballestas Islands.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel. Luxury Nazca Lines Tours & Travel.
Day 2: Paracas (Ballestas Islands) - Lima
Breakfast. Walk to the hotel's dock and embark on a cruise to the Ballestas Islands -- rocky formations that are home to colonies of sea lions and thousands of resident and migratory sea birds, including pelicans, boobies, cormorants, terns and gulls. In the summer, condors are also frequent visitors and flamingos occasionally pause at the bay. From the sea, you will observe the Candelabro, also known as Three Crosses, which may be related to the Nazca Lines. A marine ornithologist will be your private guide. After returning to shore, lunch at the Hotel Paracas and time to enjoy the beach or the resort's activities before driving back to Lima.
Extraordinary explorations.
© 2011 Inka's Empire Corporation, Luxury Peru Travel & Peru Tours. All rights reserved.
